BY CHRIS GORSUCH
The months of August, September and October are my favorite three months for topwater action. This is not to take away from or suggest that I do not enjoy the surface action during spring and early summer. It is just that the river levels in our region over the next three months lend so perfectly to topwater action.
When water temperatures are at or above the 80° mark, every bass class (i.e. size) is actively feeding. With so many active bass, finding a solid fish some days can take some doing.
Younger, smaller bass are generally far more aggressive and impulsive, they strike lures long before larger more discerning bass can get a chance. Often, short of hundreds of casts to reach that one bass, selecting larger lures in hopes to dissuade smaller bass, or limiting opportunities to the first and last hours of the day, the options to target big bass seem limited.
Topwater lures tend to level the playing field and up the odds for better overall size than any other lure I have found.
Larger smallmouth seem more susceptible to surface lures, even during some of the toughest conditions for locating larger trophy smallmouth.
So while I enjoy top water presentations from April through November, these three months is where they seem to do what no other lure can.
Topwater lures come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and functions. It would be near impossible to cover them in one article, however we can put them in categories and types. Popping, walk the dog and prop baits cover the vast majority of those I use. While it doesn’t cover every type, about 90% of them fall into these categories.
Popping Plugs
Rebel Pop-R is perhaps one of the most common popping plug on the market. Heddon Pop N Image, Megabass Pop X, River2Sea Bubble Pop and Lobina Rick Clunn Rico are just some of the popping plugs I have on hand.
Popping plugs come in all sizes, but they all function as the name suggests, they pop and spit water as the lure is twitched across the surface of the water. Poppers can be worked aggressively, or worked so slowly that they hardly make a sound as they move along the surface.
While I tend to work a popper quite aggressively myself, I watched in amazement late one afternoon when I client worked a Rico across the surface as slow as I had ever seen. It was so slow in fact, I could hardly locate the tiny popper until a monster bass exploded on the surface. He repeated this finesse popping with such success I could not resist trying it myself.
Steve’s approach was simple, he would toss the small popper close to structure at or just under the surface of the water. He would let the popper sit and wait until the rings all but disappeared and then start twitching the bait. To my amazement, this stealth/finesse approach drew big bass in and even if they missed on the first strike, a second blow up was almost always inevitable.
Walk the Dog Plugs
The Heddon Zara Spook is perhaps the most wildly know WTD plug on the market. I have hand them in my tackle box for nearly 40 years. They have a variety of sizes from Super to Puppy and seem to fit most needs. Other favorites like the Lucky Craft Sammy, Rapala Skitter Walk and 6th Sense Dogma are a few more of my favorites. But trust me, there are dozens of different makes, shapes and sizes out there.
Walking the dog so to say is easy. With a downward motion on the rod tip, the lure will walk right and then left on the next downward twitch. Anglers can walk the bait the whole time, or give the bait a pause after three or four downward twitches.
I find a pause every now and again drives the bass to strike, but each day is different and I suggest you try a few cadences and let the bass decide.
Prop Baits
For me, the Heddon Tiny Torpedo and the Phillips Crippled Killer were the first topwater prop baits I ever owned, and I still have a bunch. The craze however over the last decade plus has been the River2Sea Whopper Plopper nor Berkley Choppo. This lure is more than just a craze and has produced thousands of top water catches in my boat the last 10-12 years.
As the lure is reeled, popped or twitched, the props spin and spit water. Some make a light metallic sound, while others, like the Whopper Plopper, create quite a loud popping sound as the tail piece turns and slaps the water. Anglers can work the bait fast or slow, continuously or with an occasional stop and go.
With this quick description on Topwater lures, it would seem remiss not to mention a buzzbait. While it does not really fall under the same types as above, the buzzbait is one topwater lure that falls under the topic of ‘must have’ for every bass angler out there.
If you find yourself out on the water this August or September and are getting dinked to death by smaller bass, give one of these top water lures a try. If you stick with it and give it a fair chance, odds are that you’ll strike it BIG!
